A thriller can be a book, film or television programme
that uses suspense and tension to create atmosphere which makes the audience
feel certain moods (terror, anxious, uncertainty). There are many different
sub-genre of thrillers, these include:
For our thriller opening we chose the psychological genre
with religious element within it. The main reason why we chose this genre was
because from the questionnaire we found out the psychological sub-genre was the
most popular out of sixteen different options, meaning that we would create
something the audience wanted to see and it would make the film appeal to a
larger audience. The reason why chose to add religious elements to our opening
because we felt that the religious genre wasn't very common in thriller films-
especially in opening, so by using this sub-genre we were creating something
new and original which make this film standout compared to others. Also we felt
the psychological sub-genre could work really well with the religious sub-genre
as religion has a very sinter side to it and often uses the themes of good and
evil and death, all of which are often connected with psychological films.
In a psychological thriller the expectation of this genre
is:
· Death- a huge theme that is always involved in
a psychological thriller is death. It is common that the antagonist is obsessed with death; in fact they are
usually a psychopathic murder. This means another expectation is the
death/killing of people, with the audience being shown every detail of the
death. In our opening we used this theme as our main narrative as the room the
girl enters is full of items that help to suggest that the person who owns the
room was a killer who was obsessed with death, as there was blood everywhere,
bible clipping about death, newspaper story relating to death and images of
dead people. Not only this but the girl in our opening does get murder with the
audience seeing every part of her death.
·
The mind- another
big theme in a psychological thriller is the mind, as the narrative usually
involves the idea of what real and not real?
Or insanity and sane. In fact if t he film really uses this idea they
even make the audience question their view of the real world around them. In
our opening we suggest ideas of the mind which would develop throughout the
film. The main way we did this was by having a old fashion doll which kept
appearing throughout the opening, this made the audience question how this doll
could keep moving, if they had really seen it some many times or if it was
there mind playing tricks on them. Another thing we wanted the audience to ask
was; what kind of person owns this room? As within the room there are lots for
items that relate to death and an old fashion doll. We wanted this to suggest
that person was properly insane (something that would develop throughout the
film)/
· Mystery- in a
psychological thriller there is always a mystery though the whole film, which
is usually isn’t revealed until the end. Where the whole narrative links
together to make a very clever and surprising ending. To be done properly there has to be a lot of
plot twist which will keep the audience interested right to the very end of the
film. This was another theme we used a lot in our opening, as it is not revealed
who owns the room the girl is looking around, it only suggest what type of
person owns the room. It also not explained why the girl is there or why the
dead girls in the photos have the same bracelet on as her. We even included a
plot twist as the audience would assume the girl would be the main character
but she is killed off by someone using a gun, which is another mystery as the
murders identity is concealed. By doing
this we believe that we had a created an opening which instantly get the
audience interested in the storyline, making them want to watch the rest of the
film.
In a religious thriller the
main expectation is that the antagonist uses religion to help them understand
the world around them and they use it to justify their action by twisting the
meaning and lesson of the religion to suit what they are doing. This expectation wasn't used a lot in our
opening how we help suggest that this would be theme used later on in the
storyline. The way we did this was by having a damaged bible as one of our main
props and having lots of bible clipping relating to death around the room. All of
this help to suggest that owner of the room used the bible to help them understand death and murder. Also the
fact that the bible was damaged related to the idea of insanity (a theme used a
lot in psychological thriller) as it not normal and is a sin to damage a holy
book.
In a thriller films, these
are the conventions:
Narrative
A perfect example which shows all of these conventions
really well and inspires our group when creating our opening was 'Seven'. The
storyline for this film is two detective are trying to catch serial killer who
one kills people that have committed one of the seven deadly sins. This follows
the typical theme of good vs. evil, a villain (the serial killer) causing
injustices while a hero (the detectives) fighting for justices. In our opening
the idea of good vs evil isn't introduced, as we felt it was a very over done
idea and wasn't original. So we created of mystery in our opening so the
audience wouldn't know what was going to happen next or work out what the theme
is behind the story. However we loved the convention of using death and murder
as our main narrative because there are so many different ways of showing it
and allowed us to create something creepy and sinister while still relating to our sub-genres
(psychological and religious) really well.
Also murders are a very common thing to happen in the opening of a
thriller as they set up a good narrative of finding out who the killer is.
Throughout the whole film there are plot twist, climaxes
and mystery that create an atmosphere and tension causing the audience to feel
anxiety, terror and most importantly, keeps them interested in the film right
to the very end. As an audience member watching this film, I really like not
knowing what was going to happen next and the way the film made you feel. So
when we created our opening this was a massive part in deciding what was going
to happen. We did this by not revealing who owned the room, not showing who
killed the girl and not telling the audience why the girl had the same bracelet
on as the girls in the photos. .
Lighting
The lighting for this film is low key lighting and gloomy
with the weather being miserable throughout, helping to make the film feels
more sinister and dark. We wanted to do
something similar, but it wasn't something we control as we didn't have
equipment and on the day of filming it was really sunny. But when it came to
editing we were able to add an effect onto each shot which made the lighting
look a lot darker and added the sinister effect we wanted to create.
Setting
The setting for 'Seven' is a big city, which make it
harder to find the serial killer and makes the whole film seem more realistic.
We couldn't do this as we live in a small town and we don't have any big city
nearby us. However in the opening of seven the first murder takes place in an
abandoned, dirty house which we thought instantly created an atmosphere and helped
to suggest what type of film this was going to be. So we filmed in a 400 year
old house called The Red Hall. In which we emptied out all of the furniture and in one of the rooms we placed lots of
rubbish, fake blood, a matters and old sheets to suggest that the house was
abandon (other than the person who own that room) and it was poorly looked
after. By doing this it instant get the audience interested in what is happening- as this is a normal
thing to be doing, especially in our opening with a girl looking around. Also I
think it make the audience feel uncomfortable as it not a nice place to be and
as she is by herself, the audience will start will start to realise how much
danger she could be in. When the detectives
look around the room, it makes the audience start to ask question like what has
happen here and who has been in here and I believe our opening does the same
as it is such an unusually location.
Props
In Seven the key props was the weapons, as they were the
things that killed people and showed the audience the real danger of this
situation. Also it made the audience feel uncomfortable to watch as they know
the potential damage that can be done with them. We chose not to show the
weapon in our opening as we wanted to keep the girl's death a mystery until she
actually shot. But we were inspired to
use a gun from Seven as it not a normal item to have, especially in Britain so
when one is used it instantly create fear for the audience and helps to show
what type of person would actually own a gun and use it. So it suggest in our
opening that person who owns the gun in properly a criminal and a bit insane to
be able to shot someone dead (like the serial kill in the Seven). We changed
how this prop is usually used in a thriller films, as the antagonist normally threatens the protagonist/victim
before shooting. Where as in our opening we chose not to
show the gun or who was firing it, the audience only hears the gun shot noise.
We did this because it keep the death and shooting a secret, making surprising
and shocking to watch. Also by doing this it added a huge plot twist to the
story as the audience would expect that girl to be the main character and it
create mystery, as the audience don't know who fired the girl.
Sound
The sound in Seven was (other than dialogue) was non-diegetic
sound effects. The scene which we thought the sound was very effective was the
opening titles. In this there are lots of distorted sounds with no dialogue. It
really created an atmosphere and helped to build tension. We were so inspired
and found this so effective, we chose not to have any dialogue in our opening
and just have none-diegetic sounds playing throughout the whole opening. So in
our opening when the girl first enters a high-pitched whistling, this instantly
creates an atmosphere. The whistling sound turns into a high-pitched violin
sounds as the girl walks up the stairs. When the girl get closer to the room
the pitch of the sounds get lower and once she has entered the room the sound
becomes a lot darker a serious. This continues until she reaches the table and
the sound becomes a heartbeat. This is really important to our opening as the
audience will assume it is the girl heartbeat and as she get killed after this
sound, it actually the last time her heart will beat, which will make the
audience sympathize with her even more. When she is killed, we made the gun
shot sound twice as loud as the other sounds in our opening, this makes it more
shocking and surprising for the audience.
After the death the sound that plays is very peaceful and sad to really
bring out the emotions of the audience and help them understand just how
upsetting this situation is.
Title
For the title of our film 'The Revelation' we didn't get
the inspired from any other Thriller film. We wanted to create something really
original and new, so people wouldn't think it was similar to any other film.
The way we presented our title in the film was also original and not similar to
any other films. The title of the film is usually added in editing, where as we
actually film our title. We did this because it made the title of the film more
significant to the storyline and related well to what was happening in the
opening with the newspaper clippings.
Camerawork
With camerawork, we didn't really follow the convention
of lot high-angle and low-angled shot or have an establishing shot of the
location as it wasn't necessary to our opening. However we did do something similar
to 'Psycho' were there is high-angle
shot of the dead girl which panes onto another thing of importance. We felt
this was a very effective piece of filming because it made the victim look even
weaker and made the audience sympathise for that character even more. Then by
panning camera across to another thing that is significant to the story helps
to suggest to the audience the reason behind there murder. So in our opening
the camera panned to the girls wrist with the bracelet on, as this was the same
bracelet the dead girl wore in the photos.
Editing
For our editing, 'Psycho' was once again a huge
inspiration on how we film and edited our opening. In 'Psycho' the editing
begins very slow pace, then it became a bit quicker start to build as she enter
the showers and once the killing is taking place the editing is very fast-paced,
showing the audience a lots of distorted shots of the killing in a very small space of time. For our opening, we did
something very similar. As the girl is walking around the house and into the
room it is very slow paced than just before she is shot, the editing get very
fast pace showing different shots of the room, the photos and the doll. We did
this because it create so much tension and when watching it and shows the audience
that something bad is going to happen but they don't know what (which also
helps to keep the shooting a surprise and shock).
Genre
The genre for our opening was psychological with
religious element in it. To show this we
had an old fashioned doll that kept appealing throughout the whole opening, making
it a visual motif. The fact it keep moving, even though it is an object makes
the audience question if there is life in the doll and if has anything to do
with the death of the girl. All of which could question someone sanity. Another way we introduced our genre was by
having creepy, suspenseful music playing which increased as the tension of the
storyline increased. This is done in ‘Shutter Island' for example when a
disturbing character is shown, the music increases. This was really effective
and helps to create an atmosphere for the audience so, chose to do the same.
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